Read2Write

Ever heard of the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”? Get ready for…… Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg

Malcolm Gladwell Lois Weisberg

From the January 11, 1999 issue of The New Yorker. Writer is the author of several books, including , Blink, and What the Dog Saw, which explore social science research and psychology, sociology, and other disciplines. The profile, Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg, was later included in one of Gladwell’s most famous books, . Step 1 Pre-Reading Activities Discuss with friends or think/write about the following questions: Deepen your experience by working through the questions and vocabulary  Do you have one friend who has connected you to below before reading the article. other friends? Who is it? Have you maintained the connection?  Do all your friends know each other, or do you belong to groups or circles of people who have little in common? oblique Step 1: cursory Pre-Reading Activities Vocabulary aficionado commotion itinerant One of the great “side effects” of dazzling reading is growing your vocabulary. speculate As you read “Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg,” make note of the words to the right and see if you can make out wry potent their meaning from the context of the disparate article. Google them later to see if you were right. plausible turmoil

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reclusive rat-a-tat schlocky Pre-Reading Activities Idioms hung out walk of life took a shine to Non-native speakers of English – and in the thick of things even original English speakers – can find certain older American and British flea market idioms puzzling. Here are a few Gladwell used in this article. Come lumped together fluke back to them after reading the article and see if the context helped you cart away understand the meaning. corner office doodles

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IF POSSIBLE, print out a hard copy of the article. The first time, read simply for information, for pleasure. The second time, STEP 2 – Read the read slowly, noticing unfamiliar words, interesting uses of punctuation, or anything that gets your attention. On the hard copy, article – TWICE!! make note of interesting words or phrases, or (no, really!) anything you like.

HERE’S THE LINK: http://croker.harpethhall.org/Must%20Know/ Psychology/WeisbergGladwell.pdf Exercise #1 Questions Post-reading Activities Critical Thinking 1. How many “worlds” do you belong to? 2. What makes you “fit” into those worlds? 3. Is there a “Lois” at the center of each? One way to get a good piece of 4. Do you know anyone like Lois? Are YOU a Lois? writing to stick with you is to spend some time thinking and writing about 5. What other famous experiments is Stanley Milgram associated it. with? Critical Thinking Exercise #1. Answer the questions to the right in complete sentences. Exercise #2 Essay Prompt Critical Thinking Exercise #2. Write a Most, if not all, of Lois Weisberg’s friends and acquaintances are well- short essay (under 200-500 words) off, well-educated people of a particular social and economic strata. summarizing your thoughts on the text How big of a role do you think Lois Weisberg’s law degree and to the right. financial resources played in the size of her influence and her ability OR – DO BOTH!! to enter so many different “worlds”? Were her money and education the fuel for her social power, or was her influence due to her innate qualities? What would a Lois Weisberg with less money and education be like? How might she influence and connect others? Post-reading Activities: Vocabulary Building Quizlet, a free learning app, is a great tool for reviewing, recalling, and retaining information, using In their book, “Make It Stick: The games, flashcards, and other tools. There’s even a Science of Successful Learning,” (A GREAT book, by the way!) authors mobile app for your phone. Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, and Mark McDaniel explore recent A Quizlet has been prepared using selected advances in cognitive psychology vocabulary from the article. Let me know if there are research that challenges our traditional ideas about the best way to words you’d like added to it. learn.  Find it here: Six Degrees of Lois Quizlet One of the biggest takeaways is that the process of recalling recently studied material (like vocabulary) makes you more likely to retain the information: e.g., taking a short vocabulary quiz a week or two after you studied the material, instead of cramming for a test at the last minute. Read2Write Exercise Submissions

For those of you who completed the written exercises associated with this Read2Write – excellent!! If you’d like to send them to the Writing & Career Services office for feedback, attach your document (preferably in Word) to an email and send it to [email protected].

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We hope you enjoyed reading (and maybe writing) about Lois Weisberg. Keep going to read more about her. Farewell to Lois

Sadly, Lois Weisberg died in 2016.  Lois Weisberg, Chicago's Cultural Connector, Dies Here are three obituaries written at 90 about her, one from her hometown newspaper, the  Lois Weisberg, Chicago Arts Chief, Dead at 90 Chicago Tribune, as well as the  Lois Weisberg, 1925-2016 New York Times and The New Yorker, referencing Malcolm Gladwell’s article. The obituaries make clear the effect she had on the city of Chicago. Got a question about writing? Send an email to [email protected], or request an appointment.